The performance properties of vulcanizates or rubbers used for vehicle tires are specifically adjusted inter alia via the selection of the rubber polymers used, via functionalization of the same, via chemical and/or adsorptive/physical binding to the filler and via the selection of the fillers and additives.
Tire rubber compounds, in particular for treads, often comprise olefinic polymers optionally having aryl side chains. Rubber materials very often used in tire tread mixtures are copolymer rubbers composed of conjugated dienes and of aromatic vinyl compounds. SBR rubber (styrene-butadiene rubber) is the most prominent member of this group.
Alongside the random SBR copolymers, block copolymers are also known, and block formation appears to have a decisive effect on some performance properties.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,667,362 discloses a diene polymer modified terminally by a silanol group and optionally having a polysiloxane spacer. The diene polymer can be an SBR rubber. These elastomers improve the interaction with the filler, but are difficult to process.